The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
In this context, medical product shall comprise, among other things, diapers, incontinence pads, and disposable sheets, but also wound dressings, compresses, and band-aids, as well as dressings and bandages, in particular compression and fixation bandages. In addition, medical product shall also comprise draping for patients or devices during a surgery, as well as clothing articles for the surgeon, such as surgical gowns, gloves, and scrub caps. Finally, medical products shall also include pharmaceutical products. All these products have in common that when needed, they are removed from packaging which may contain technical or usage-related information in the form of a package insert, or is provided as a short version on the packaging itself, in order then to be worn in particular on the body, or to be taken into the body, as is the case, for example, with a diaper, or a wound dressing, or a band-aid, or a surgical gown, or to be used in an operating room without additional solid contact with the insert or the packaging. The same essentially applies to pharmaceutical products, frequently removed from the outer packaging, in particular to tablets, removed from packaging in so-called blister packs for carrying or storing without further contact with the packaging and the insert. Frequently, for better storage, the insert initial is removed from the outer packaging, and then no longer is available for further consultations.
This presents a problem inasmuch as technical information or user-related information related to the usage of the product cannot be attached to these types of medical products due to dimensional or spatial reasons, or due to other reasons.
Nevertheless, it may be relevant or necessary later, in particular during or after the use, to obtain information, in particular concerning the instructions for use, or the side effects.
In addition, in many regards, for example, as relevant to the distribution companies, the pharmaceutical products approval authorities, or the consumers, it may be desirable or necessary to provide a clear identification of the medical products. Thus, definitive identification of the product will be possible even if packaging inserts or other accompanying information is not available. This cannot always be guaranteed by shape, size, or appearance of the product alone.
Therefore, it is already common technological practice to provide product information in the form of product codes, for example, a series of numbers or such on the products, for example diapers, with respective information found in EP 1 292 258 B1. However, in that case the consumer is unable to obtain information directly from the encoding. In addition, only simple information can be included in this type of encoding. In particular, it is subsequently not possible to provide the information included in the insert or even to provide additional information.
Coding of a medical product is already established in EP 0 828 523 B1, which describes how to apply a permanent identifying encoding to a transdermal therapeutic system in such manner that the encoding on the back layer consists of a locally differing surface quality, surface thickness, or surface roughness of this back layer.
In addition, a method for providing counterfeit-proof marking of products is known from WO 03/098543 A1, which provides for individual marking and non-coded marking, with the encoded marking corresponding to the non-coded marking when decoded with the public key. Marking is creating with a secret segment of the key, so that with conformance of the two markings after the decoding of the encoded part, it is guaranteed that the encoded part was created with the secret part of the key, and that the manufacturer of the original created the encoded part, thus confirming the product as an original.